Something pretty profound happened when I was with my friend, Tati, at a café one morning. Tati is originally from Columbia and is just the sweetest human being! She's trying to get her U.S. citizenship in the next two years or so and only began learning English a few years ago – and she’s already really really really good at it! Although she does have a thick accent. This one particular morning though when I was trying to order my coffee in German, I had a lot of difficulty. Although I swore I used the right words, with the right grammar, and pronounced everything fine the barista still had a hard time understanding me – but I swear I thought I was doing it all perfectly! It was a little disappointing and frustrating on my part for not being able to communicate effectively despite my best efforts - and when a say a little, I really mean a lot. As I walked away from the counter rather defeated, Tati came up to me grinning. Which isn't unusual for Tati being as bubbly, happy and optimistic as she is but in the context it felt off. As she came up to me she exclaimed “Hah! Now you know exactly how I feel all the time!”. This really opened my eyes and caught me off-guard. The frustration of not being able to communicate as effectively as I like here in Germany is the everyday norm for Tati back in the states. While she knows English just fines sometimes just the accent can throw people from understanding her fully. Just like how my very very very American accent sounds when I try and speak German I'm sure. I can’t even imagine what that must be like. Just another reason to make me exceedingly grateful for having limited, or at least protected experiences, of being the other.
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